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What Happened
A 62-year-old truck driver from Amsterdam, New York, was fatally struck by his own truck tractor on Tuesday afternoon at the loading docks of a Commack Target store, according to the Suffolk County Police Department. The driver had exited the vehicle — a 2023 International tractor with no trailer attached — when it rolled backward and ran over him.
Police were called to 98 Veterans Memorial Highway at approximately 4:42 p.m., where they found the driver unconscious with his legs pinned behind the rear of the truck. The location is the back side of the Target store, in the vicinity of its loading docks. Newsday reported that another truck driver — not an eyewitness to the rollover itself — spotted the victim pinned behind the tractor and dialed 911.
The driver had traveled to Commack from Amsterdam, which is situated in the Albany area of upstate New York, a trip of more than 150 miles. Detectives have not yet been able to establish the exact time the tractor rolled over him, as the 911 call from the other driver represents the first confirmed moment anyone was aware something had happened.
The victim was transported from the scene and later pronounced dead at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown, according to the Suffolk County Police Department’s news release.
The critical detail investigators have established so far is that the parking brake on the 2023 International tractor had not been activated at the time of the incident. “No one witnessed the incident, and there is no video, but detectives determined that the parking brake had not been activated,” the department’s press office stated in an email to Newsday. How and why the brake was not set remains the focus of the ongoing investigation.
Notably, recallcheck.net has documented that some 2023 International brand tractors have been subject to recalls, including at least one related to parking brake defects. However, Suffolk County Police told Newsday that any such recall is not relevant to this crash. The tractor involved was operating without a trailer at the time.
Location & Road Context
The crash occurred at 98 Veterans Memorial Highway in Commack, a dense commercial corridor in the Town of Smithtown that runs through one of Long Island’s busiest retail zones. The back side of the Target — where delivery trucks regularly access loading docks — is not a public-facing area, which may explain the absence of witnesses and the lack of surveillance footage capturing the event itself.
Commack has seen a number of serious roadway and commercial-area incidents in recent months, including a critical crash involving a National Grid vehicle in December 2025 and a moderate crash on the Long Island Expressway near Commack Road in June 2026.
Investigation & Legal Proceedings
The Suffolk County Police Department’s homicide squad is investigating, though no criminality has been suggested. Detectives are still working to establish a precise timeline — specifically, what time the tractor began rolling and how long the victim had been pinned before the other truck driver found him and called 911 at approximately 4:42 p.m.
The absence of both eyewitnesses and surveillance footage makes reconstruction of the incident particularly difficult. Police have focused on the unactivated parking brake as the central mechanical factor, while noting they have not linked the incident to any outstanding recall on the 2023 International model. No charges have been filed, and the investigation remains open.